Head Held High
by Danny Bailey
Summary: Young Albus Dumbledore lives in a leaky castle with his mother and his...popular younger brother, who happens to be a source of great annoyance to Albus. Add to the mix a inexplicable breeze and potential baby and you’ve got instant romance. One shot. S


**Title: **Head Held High  
**Author:** Clothespin  
**Author E-mail: **airamecthotmail.com  
**Category: **Romance, Humor  
**Rating:** R for language and a bit of teh sex.   
**Spoilers:** Just read the books.

**Summary:** Young Albus Dumbledore lives in a leaky castle with his mother and his...popular younger brother, who happens to be a source of great annoyance to Albus. Add to the mix a inexplicable breeze and potential baby and you've got instant romance. One shot. Slash! Albus/Aberforth.

**Author's Notes: **Written for madsciencechick's challenge on FA. I think I scared myself a bit by writing this. Quite the divergence from my usual (S/R) style, nu? Also a tad more explicit. (ie. They kiss a bit) Oh, and I tried to do the Brit slang, but I'm so, so American. So watch out.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing at all in this story. I do not own the other characters. They are divvied up into parts by JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and other places, I think. They also own the characters' situations. I am not making any money off this story and I don't intend copyright infringement. Thank you!

Albus Dumbledore stormed down the drippy stone stairway of his Ancestral Home in a seething, frothing, eye-twitching sort of manner. The bony fingers of his hands, devoid even of the warmth of a pair of gloves, clenched and unclenched themselves in perfect rhythm with his jaw.

Upon reaching the penultimate door in the unnecessarily long hallway he threw it open with great force and gusto, causing his long red ponytail to whip dramatically in the wind and catch him in the eye. Tears coursing down him face, he marched toward the giant gothic window where his older brother stood, a perfect antithesis of Albus's own mood. Aberforth, his stance regal and calm, surveyed the craggy land that lay spread out below the Dumbledores' home.

"You know Al, you really let yourself get worked up over the smallest trivial details. Mother is sorting it all out right now. Just sit tight and wait."

Albus rolled his good eye at the irritating pet name, and rubbed the other with his fist to alleviate the sting from his hair. "Aberforth you can't seriously allow this. Surely you have some sense of pride. You've been touting about with this floozy for nearly a month, so you must have some affection for her. Why don't you just marry the girl? " Albus's fringe whipped across his forehead in an entirely non-sexy way. "Is there a window open in here," he asked, not bothering to hide his frustration.

"Alas no," Aberforth sighed. "Simply that our incompetent plumber did a shoddy job when he replaced that bit of drywall. You remember. The time he came to fix the leaky pipe that apparently runs along all the castle walls? Anyway," Aberforth said with a dismissive wave of his hand," the room's been drafty ever since.

Albus shrugged and conjured a pin to hold his fringe behind his ear. "You know Aberforth," he said, trying to calm down, "I think your taking this too lightly. The baby won't just go away no matter how much money Mother gives that girl."

"No, naturally. I expect that he'll be raised properly and I'll certainly look out for him. I don't want any strapping young boys with desperate quests of vengeance on my hands now do I? I just don't want to marry the little whore that's all. Who wants to be tied down?"

Albus gritted his teeth and spat out his words. "So you just screwed her and it didn't mean anything at all?" His voice was full of fire while Aberforth's remained as cool as ice.

"What should it mean brother? What is the act that we call "lovemaking" but a primal physical urge? If you ask me, it's nothing more than something that has to be done, quickly and efficiently, and then forgotten. Personally, I'd be a bit disturbed if I had to go around _thinking_ about sex all the time.

Albus cocked an eyebrow, wondering how Aberforth could possibly mean that when all he did was have sex. Why, it had only been last week when that doe-eyed brunette had come up to Albus in the market and asked him where his brother was. He'd told her that business had kept Aberforth away but that he might be back before the week was out. He'd told that to the first four girls who'd asked. After that, overtaken by irritation, he asked them wonderingly how they could have possible missed Aberforth, because he was running around starkers with his nadds painted blue. Horrifically enough they'd looked more interested than repulsed.

"What would Father say if he saw you like this? Nineteen and without any direction in the world at all. Don't you want to be prepared when life throws its shit in your face?" The color rose in Albus's cheeks and his robes swirled around his feet in the breeze, creating an affect that would have been dramatic, had it not been for the pink wooly socks that were revealed when the robes shifted.

Aberforth turned away from Albus and looked out the window again. For a brief moment he seemed to be considering what to say. Then he chuckled. "This is my life," he said with a steely, determined note. "Fuck Father. And fuck you too."

Albus growled in frustration. "Well, it would probably improve _your_ mood," he said unkindly, and then cursed himself for bringing sex into yet another facet of this less-than-sanctimonious conversation.

Slowly, Aberforth turned around, his thin lips splitting into a smirk. "Are you volunteering?"

Albus closed his eyes in a grimace. "Okay, getting weird, _Brother_," he said. He took a step back. Cautiously. "I think I'll just – mmmph." Albus never finished his sentence. Aberforth considerately swallowed the words so that he wouldn't have to choke on them, for they both knew that choking on one's own words is never a pleasant thing. So Aberforth took the words into his own mouth and swallowed them whole. Then, just to be sure that there weren't any traces left, he ran his tongue over the inside of Albus' cheek, doing a through sweep. He made sure to check along the roof of his mouth and under his tongue. As a last precaution Aberforth ran the tip of his own tongue over Albus's smooth lips.

Albus drew in a deep breath as Aberforth pulled away. Had he just been kissed? Albus had only kissed one other person before in his life, and that had been Gwyn Astley, his best friend from childhood, It hadn't been anything like this. So that's what all the foxes down at the pub had been so keen on experiencing.

Albus took a deep breath and looked Aberforth squarely in the eyes. "Remember what I said about marrying that girl?"

"Yes"

"Forget what I said about marrying that girl."


End file.
